U.s. Baffles Panamanians

April 17, 1988|By ROBERTO FABRICIO, Foreign Editor

WASHINGTON -- ``The last time you came to see me you took the canal away, Lewis, but this time I can`t help you,`` Henry Kissinger said in his baritone voice, trying to fend off Gabriel Lewis Galindo, the man in the vortex of the Panamanian ``revolution`` in Washington.

The recent meeting between Galindo and the former secretary of state is symbolic both of the Panamanians` frustration and of Washington`s apparent inability to act on Panama much beyond symbolic measures.

Kissinger told Galindo that he sympathized with his desire to get rid of Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, Panama`s de facto ruler, but that his own influence on U.S. policy is limited these days.

Galindo, a former Panamanian ambassador to Washington during the regime of the late Omar Torrijos, is a powerful and persistent personality, a multimillionaire with close ties to most of the hemisphere`s leaders.

He has been present and assisted at all of Panama`s important junctures the past 15 years, including the negotiation of the U.S.-Panama canal treaties in 1979, and in the negotiations that led to the departure of Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza that same year.

When Galindo denounced Noriega last June and later fled to exile in Washington vowing to overthrow him, it was assumed by many that Noriega`s days were numbered.

But as it turned out, the general has shown staying power unimagined by his foes.

``We are faced with a much bigger and powerful threat than anyone imagined at the outset of this situation,`` Galindo said in an interview on Thursday. ``And the most ironic thing is that the problem lies right here in Washington.``

Galindo, who has been badgering the Reagan administration recently to take more decisive steps to unseat Noriega, sees the warring factions of the administration as being congealed, unable to break a policy deadlock that he sees as the only thing maintaining Noriega in power.

``There seems to be a deep split in policy between the various agencies of the government, and it is up to President Reagan to make a final decision,`` Galindo said. ``I hope that decision is timely, otherwise it may indeed take U.S. Marines to get him (Noriega) out and we Panamanians don`t want to cost the U.S. any lives.``

Galindo and members of the Civic Crusade, the political and civic organizations that have been attempting to unseat Noriega, say the general could have been toppled in late March during a national strike that paralyzed the country. He had been indicted in Miami and Tampa on drug-trafficking charges.

Another crusade member said that vital but limited military assistance to a faction of the opposition that was to take actions in Panama to destabilize the Panama Defense Forces and create panic in their ranks was withheld at the last minute without explanation.

``The plan had been approved, the U.S. government was committed, ready, had given its word, then there was a squabble, an interagency disagreement over tactics, a seemingly inexplicable case of cold feet by people who were not going to be risking lives or to be in front-line positions and it set back the whole agenda,`` the Panamanian source said.

Administration insiders, who often spend sleepless nights monitoring the Panama crisis and who have developed a strong dislike for Noriega, dispute the Panamanians` assertions.

``The implication that anyone in Washington is trying to keep Noriega in power is preposterous,`` one official said. ``There may be a genuine difference of opinion on strategy, but no more.``

Another official, far more cynical in his appreciation, said: ``The Panamanians will shed every last drop of American blood necessary to get rid of Noriega.``

The incident, in which the Panamanians were told that U.S. support for their action would be too risky, and the subsequent ability of Noriega to hang on to power in the face of difficult odds, has created a deep split between the crusade representatives in Washington and some members of the administration.

``It is imperative the U.S. recognize the danger in that pretty soon the only option to get rid of Noriega will be the U.S. armed forces,`` said Juan Sosa, recognized by Washington as the Panamanian ambassador. Sosa remains loyal to rebellious ousted President Eric Arturo Delvalle, who is in hiding in Panama.

The option of using U.S. forces in Panama is one that appears distant and distasteful to senior administration officials.

While the State Department has been in the forefront of the attempts to unseat Noriega, the Pentagon has been the least enthusiastic and the National Security Council has tried to orchestrate the efforts with a semblance of unanimity; in fact no agency of the government considers military intervention a likely event in the near future.

A senior official said: ``It is a possibility, one of many, but one that we are not in love with and one that is not likely, to tell you the truth.``

One leading crusade member, Roberto Brenes, considers the Pentagon`s reluctance to assist the crusade`s own actions with military assistance as suspicious.

``The only thing I see is that they are unwilling to help with something so ridiculously small that it would make the assistance to the Contras or the Afghan guerrillas look like World War III,`` Brenes said.